Generalized Trust Scale (GTS) Test

How the Scales are Structured
Who Usually Takes This Test?
See How You Compare
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.
Example Questions From the Test
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neither agree nor disagree
- Agree
- Strongly agree
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neither agree nor disagree
- Agree
- Strongly agree
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neither agree nor disagree
- Agree
- Strongly agree
Generalized Trust Scale (GTS) Test - Description and methodology of the test
People who want to understand their default expectations of others may find this assessment useful, especially when reflecting on cooperation, reliability, and social connection. For readers considering the Generalized Trust Scale (GTS) Test, the result offers a concise profile of broad social trust rather than a judgment about any single relationship. This social trust questionnaire can support reflection on openness, caution, and reciprocity.
What This Assessment Explores
At its core, the assessment examines broad expectations about whether other people are honest, kind, dependable, and willing to return trust. It suits anyone reflecting on social attitudes and the assumptions that shape everyday interactions, rather than on one named person or event.
The displayed scale is Generalized Trust, with a range of 6-30. The displayed bands are Low trust 6-14, Moderate trust 15-25, and High trust 26-30. In this interpersonal trust assessment, lower scores indicate caution or distrust, middle scores a balanced stance, and higher scores greater readiness to trust people and society generally.
The item themes are:
- Expectations of honesty and kindness show how readily you view people as decent and well-intentioned.
- Reciprocity expectations indicate whether you expect trust to be returned.
- Broad social confidence reflects how readily you extend trust to people in general.
Methodology and Scientific Basis
Each item is a short statement rated on a five-point agreement scale, from Strongly disagree to Strongly agree. The six prompts cover beliefs that people are honest, good, trustworthy, and likely to reciprocate, alongside your general willingness to trust. Results are shown as a single total with the stated bands; no separate weighting or reverse-scoring rule is specified.
This online trust assessment is conceptually consistent with Yamagishi and Yamagishi's published General Trust Scale, while Rotter's 1967 work provides a wider interpersonal-trust context. Yamagishi, Kikuchi, and Kosugi's 1999 study linked general trust with sensitivity to cues of untrustworthiness, and Jasielska and colleagues reported cross-cultural evidence in Polish and U.S. samples. These studies support the construct's research relevance, but they do not standardize this online version for every population.
As a measure of trust in other people, the result offers a snapshot of general orientation. Self-report may be shaped by current experiences, mood, cultural expectations, and self-awareness, while broad statements cannot capture situational trust or specific relationship dynamics. Use the score to frame reflection, not to infer how someone will behave in every context.
- Yamagishi, Toshio, and Midori Yamagishi. "Trust and commitment in the United States and Japan." Motivation and Emotion 18, no. 2 (1994): 129-166. 10.1007/BF02249397
- Yamagishi, Toshio, Masako Kikuchi, and Motoko Kosugi. "Trust, Gullibility, and Social Intelligence." Asian Journal of Social Psychology 2, no. 1 (1999): 145-161. 10.1111/1467-839X.00030
- Jasielska, Dorota, Radosław Rogoza, Anna Zajenkowska, and Mary Bower Russa. "General trust scale: Validation in cross-cultural settings." Current Psychology 40 (2021): 5019-5029. 10.1007/s12144-019-00435-2
- Rotter, Julian B. "A new scale for the measurement of interpersonal trust." Journal of Personality 35, no. 4 (1967): 651-665. 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1967.tb01454.x
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